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President Obama urges the FCC to treat the internet as a utility
President Barack Obama has been a proponent of net neutrality for what seems like ages, which explains why he just did what he did. In a just-posted YouTube video (and Medium post) and he's just asked the FCC do what online activists have been hoping for -- he's urging the commission to officially classify internet service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, which would essentially mean internet access would be governed the same way telephone service is. Doing so would also mean the potentially hairy legal loophole that could give rise of prioritized service and online fast lanes wouldn't be an issue anymore, either. Huzzah! As the president notes in that brief video address (which you can peek at after the jump) though, the FCC is an independent body and he can't make them do anything. It's on Chairman Tom Wheeler and his ilk to take a stand, though whether or not they will is still up in the air.
Mozilla asks the FCC to rethink net neutrality with content providers in mind
Like some, Mozilla is concerned that the FCC's second take on net neutrality won't be enough to guarantee that internet service providers (ISPs) treat all content fairly. To that end, the Firefox developer has just given the FCC a solution of its own: regulate the relationship between ISPs and "remote delivery services" like Dropbox and Netflix. If these content hosts were subject to the same common carrier rules as phone lines, Mozilla argues, ISPs wouldn't be allowed to discriminate against incoming services by blocking them or slowing them down.
